Survey the population of the Egyptian Vultures in The Sultanate of Oman

Date

2012 - ongoing

Location

Across Oman

Issues

The Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) is one of the region’s most threatened bird species. The Environment Society of Oman started researching the vulture in 2012 on the island of Masirah where 65 to 80 territorial pairs and 260-386 individuals were estimated to be found on the island. This was four times greater than the previous estimate! Following the brand-new discovery that Egyptian Vultures could be thriving in Oman, additional funds were secured by ESO with the support of Shell Development Oman for a second phase of the project. In 2015 the species was studied in a broader geographical context (six governorates of Oman) and included field surveys, satellite tracking and outreach activities

Project Process

Field survey activities consisted of three consecutive dumpsite counts and one breeding survey. The multiple rubbish dumps counts demonstrated their importance as a food source for the resident Egyptian Vulture population, and their potential for being good locations for monitoring local and migratory populations. Staggering numbers, with as many as 300 individuals were recorded around some dumpsites! The breeding surveys in the Hajar Mountains confirmed the existence of breeding areas identified by Jennings (2010).

The global population trend of Egyptian Vultures is decreasing, and data is confirming the importance of Oman for this species. This has been emphasized at the Egyptian Vulture Regional Flyway Action Planning workshop organized by the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) and the Convention for Migratory Species (CMS) in Sofia, Bulgaria in July 2015. Oman potentially holds the most important population of Egyptian Vultures in Arabia and in contrast to all other countries, has a healthy and relatively large breeding population.